University of Iowa College of Public Health alumna Stephanie Kliethermes was recently appointed Research Director at the American Medical Society of Sports Medicine (AMSSM). Kliethermes, who holds both masters and doctoral degrees in biostatistics from the University of Iowa, is based at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Previously, she was an assistant professor in the department of public health sciences at Loyola University Medical Center where she also served as Director of the Biostatistics Collaboration Core.

As AMSSM Research Director, Kliethermes will help grow and guide the newly created AMSSM Collaborative Research Network (CRN), which aims to foster collaborative multi-site research among the society’s members with the goal of advancing the practice of sports medicine.

“We see Stephanie’s hire as being a huge step towards increasing the quality and amount of research generated by our organization and our members,” said Dr. Jon Divine, AMSSM immediate past president. “When we talk about our mission and objectives as a medical society, bolstering out the strength of our research efforts is a huge step forward towards ‘leading sports medicine into the future.’”

Kliethermes earned a Master of Science degree in 2009 and a PhD in 2013 from the University of Iowa.

In another University of Iowa connection to the AMSSM Collaborative Research Network, Dr. Andrew Peterson, clinical associate professor of pediatrics, was recently appointed to serve a 2-3 year term as an at-large junior member of the CRN Leadership Team. He will be tasked with helping guide the vision and direction of the CRN and will be heavily involved with establishing the infrastructure, building the membership base and securing research funding for initial and sustained success of the research network.

More information about AMSSM is available at http://www.amssm.org/